


Thief of Hearts

by lies_d



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: AU, Corporate Espionage, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 16:46:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17491607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lies_d/pseuds/lies_d
Summary: Richard Hendricks, freelance hacker, is hired by tech giant Pied Piper to steal intellectual property from a small has-been corporation, Hooli.





	1. The Board Meeting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doctorcolubra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctorcolubra/gifts).



The room was almost entirely pitch black, save for one shaft of light illuminating a chair in the middle of the room.

_Go in. Sit down._ Those were Richard's operating instructions. With his heart pounding in his ears, it felt like a small miracle when he made it to the chair without tripping over his own feet. Instead, he fell over trying to climb onto the tall swivelling seat.

"Gaah! Ow. Just a second."

Once he'd finally righted himself, he squinted into the darkness. Hopefully there was no one there yet to have witnessed his blunders. The light, right on top of him, made it even harder to see anything.

"Richard Hendricks."

Another light appeared, illuminating a table and a woman sitting there. The name plate in front of her read 'L. Bream'. It must be Laurie Bream herself.

Richard swallowed hard against a sudden rise of queasiness. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

In the diffused light around Ms. Bream, Richard could just make out two more nameplates at the long table: M. Hall and E. Bachman. But other than Ms. Bream, nobody spoke or leaned into the light. There was no way to tell how many people were watching him.

Richard closed his eyes, trying to calm himself.

"I heard that ah, Pied Piper is looking for a hacker?" His voice sounded thin, but he congratulated himself on getting the words out without choking or coughing.

"Yes. That is correct." Her expressionless face and the flat tone of her voice made Laurie Bream sound like a robot - Richard wondered if that were the case. Pied Piper was doing very interesting things with robots these days.

Either way. Richard was here to make his pitch.

"Well, I'm ah, here to say that you've found the right guy." He gestured at himself with his thumbs. That intro had sounded better on paper. He took a breath and kept going. "I know all the major coding languages and most of the minor ones. I've seen tons of security protocols and I know how to get around almost all of them. I've been hacking mainframes for nearly twenty years - I started off hacking phones when I was a kid, and I just got better and better. I can do white hat, black hat, whatever you want. I'm... pretty good. I'm kind of a big deal." That last part he'd debating adding. It was basically the ballsiest thing he'd ever said in his life. "So believe me. I'm the guy you want for this job."

Laurie Bream blinked, but otherwise barely moved. "Yes. Correct again."

"Ahhh. What? Is this actually a ro-"

"We are aware of your capabilities, Richard Hendricks. You've been thoroughly vetted. That is why you're here."

"Oh. You mean, I have the job?"

"Yes." Richard thought he heard hesitation in Laurie's voice. "We've chosen you for a very particular job. Luckily, it requires no personal charisma or presentation ability. But we believe you have all the other necessary skills that you will need."

"Okay. Thanks?"

"You've been assigned a team. You'll meet them today. You start immediately."

"A team? No, no I usually work alone. I mean sometimes my friend Big Head helps me talk over plans, but he doesn't even really help, he just listens."

Laurie Bream cocked her head. "I don't know this 'Big Headed' person. Your team has already been chosen. Do you want the job or not?"

"Yes! I do." Pied Piper, a haircut and a real job. He'd finally decided to do something with his skills. With real corporate scratch, he could pay off his fines and get out of the string of pest-filled basements he'd lived in most of his life.

"Excellent. Welcome to Pied Piper, Richard Hendricks. And good luck to you."

The light at Laurie Bream's table went out, and once again Richard found himself squinting into the darkness.

"Should I go...? Okay I'll just go now." He got up and let himself out.


	2. The Team

'M. Hall' turned out to be a woman named Monica. Richard developed a hopeless crush on her within a few minutes of meeting. Hopeless, he knew, not only because she was on the board of friggin' _Pied Piper_ , but also because frankly, she scared him just a little. The way she held herself, somehow, impossibly reminded Richard of a dragon. A sexy dragon.

Monica threw the butt of her smoke down to the parking lot gravel and crushed it with the pointed toe of her leather high heel.

"Okay guys, now that we're all here. Quick introductions: this is Bertram Gilfoyle, Dinesh Chugtai, Jared Dunn, and last but not least, Richard Hendricks."

Richard gave an awkward wave. Bertram crossed his arms and Dinesh raised an eyebrow. The tall one - Jared - was the only one who waved back.

From the five seconds he'd known them, Dinesh and Bertram gave Richard the impression of being surly, maybe a little standoffish. Like a lot of people he knew and worked with, frankly. But Jared was different. Odd somehow. Richard couldn't quite define it. Maybe it was the way he held his hands, first clasped in front of him and now tucked in his pocket, in a kind of studied nonchalance that nonetheless came off as awkward. His face seemed to rest in a gentle smile that felt genuine, but there was a sharpness to his wide, blue eyes that looked the opposite of gentle. That and the dark circles around his eyes made it look like he hadn't slept more than five hours in the past week. Again, Richard felt intimidation twisting around with attraction, which he tried to ignore because he really, really didn't want to start questioning his sexuality right now.

"Your job," said Monica, giving Richard a welcome means to focus away from Jared, "For which Pied Piper is prepared to pay you handsomely, is to steal a piece of code from the Hooli mainframe."

"Hooli? Never heard of them," said Dinesh with a shrug.

"I have." Richard chimed in. "They're small, but... important? They laid a lot of groundwork, back in the early days. Why would you need to steal anything from them? Couldn't you just buy it?"

"Hooli isn't willing to sell, at any price," said Monica with a shrug. "So what choice do we have?"

"I guess?" Richard guessed if he could fathom the ways of CEOs, he'd be at the top of the food chain instead of the bottom. But if stealing a few pages of code meant the difference between a good life and... the one he had now, it was time he considered bending his morals. They'd never done him much good anyhow. "Okay, so what is it that we need to steal?"

"And more importantly, how are we supposed to steal it?" Bertram finally spoke.

"You're going to steal it by going out to Hooli Island so you can hack directly into their offline mainframe."

"You mean going out physically, like travelling with our _bodies_?" Asked Dinesh.

"To Hooli Island. Yeah," replied Monica. "Jared will get you out there. He's been prepped already, he knows the way. Dinesh and Bertram, you're the hardware guys."

"My mom calls me Bertram, you guys can call me Gilfoyle."

"Okay, Gilfoyle. We've stocked you up with some top of the line gear. You'll need to get past any automated security and patch a line in for Richard. Richard, you need to find the target software, copy it, and bring it back."

"Great. Fine. So what exactly am I supposed to find?"

Monica crossed her arms and sighed. "We don't know exactly. We know that Peter Gregory, one of Hooli's founders, was working on something big. A game-changer. But he died two years ago, and Gavin Belson, the other founder, won't give it up."

"So you want me to steal a piece of software... but you don't know exactly what it is?" Richard asked.

"You're a smart guy Richard. I'm not being sarcastic and I'm not saying that in jest. We think you'll know it when you see it."


	3. Preparations

Monica gave them final instructions: leave your cars and your phones behind on the lot. As they all boarded a black-paneled van, Richard felt a growing sense of unease.

"Do you guys mind if I sit in the front?" Richard asked, because he felt he needed some idea of where they were going, and the thought of sitting in the back, in the literal dark, made his stomach lurch. Nobody objected.

"It'll be nice to have someone to talk to," said Jared as he climbed into the driver's seat.

"Are you _driving?_ " Dinesh asked when Jared started the engine.

"It's my job to get you to Hooli safely," Jared replied as he adjusted the mirrors. "And I don't trust self-driving cars."

Jared drove in the self-driving lanes anyways. The extra speed had never unnerved Richard as much as it did now. With a tight grip on his armrests, he couldn't think of any conversation worth making.

They drove until the sun set. They pulled into a rundown motel in the remains of a burned out town.

Richard helped Jared haul the last of his large black cases from the van into their room once Gilfoyle and Dinesh became entranced with the contents of the first case they opened.

"Dibbs. I call dibbs on that," Dinesh said, pointing to something Richard could only vaguely identify as 'a gadget'.

"Do you even know what that is?" Gilfoyle asked.

"No, it just looks cool." Dinesh reached past Gilfoyle to pick it up and examine it. His eyes widened. "Oh my god, is this what I think it is?" He looked up to Jared.

"I doubt you even know how to use that," Gilfoyle commented.

"I learned in Karachi. This one is like, ten times better though."

"Pied Piper conducted detailed background checks on both of you before you were hired. All of this equipment has been tailored to your experience and your abilities."

Jared opened up one of the crates.

"Is that...? Are those?" Richard's growing unease reached an apex. He felt bile rising up in the back of his throat.

Dinesh looked over and gave a low whistle.

The crate was packed with guns, carefully nestled in black foam. Jared picked one out and checked the safety, the magazine, the sight and the trigger in less than five seconds, then put it back and did the same to another.

"I didn't think this was that kind of job," said Gilfoyle in a deadpan tone that Richard envied mightily.

 _What the actual fuck?_ Went through Richard's mind. All that came out of his mouth was: " _No._ "

Jared looked up.

Richard swallowed. "No way. Nobody told me this job would involve guns and like, shooting people. I'm a _hacker_ , guys. I work with a keyboard, I can destroy people socially or financially, but not like, _physically_ with _bullets_." He shook his head and started backing away. "I can't. I'm out. This isn't what I signed up for."

Jared put the gun back. "Richard, please wait."

Richard stopped. Jared's voice was so mild, completely at odd with the mechanical gun-checking he'd performed just moments ago. Richard wanted to believe he couldn't hurt him.

"I understand your hesitance. And I admire it, really I do." Jared smiled reassuringly. His eyes looked so kind, but yet so capable of not-kindness. "You don't have to use these at all, Richard. They're only for me. And there's really very little chance we'll come across any human security agents. I like to have them, you know," he shrugged. "Just in case. But if you want I can aim for kneecaps. I can assure you I'm a very good shot."

Richard winced. "That still sounds really painful and debilitating."

"Shins then? Broken tibia heal more quickly and have less chance of causing complications."

Richard chewed his lip. He didn't want to walk away from this job and strangely, he didn't want to say no to Jared. He just couldn't stomach the thought of hurting anyone badly.

"Coastal security forces tend to have very generous medical and insurance packages. And injury like that could provide a great payout and time off to heal," Jared informed him.

 _Time off_. That did sound attractive. Richard hadn't had time off in years.

"Promise? No serious injuries?" Richard finally capitulated.

"No headshots or body shots, just tibias. Promise."

The bright look on Jared's face made Richard inexplicably feel lighter. For no reason he could explain, given the scant few hours they'd known each other, Richard trusted him.


	4. The Journey

"Wake up. Richard, wake up." Jared roused him with a gentle shake on his shoulder.

Gilfoyle and Dinesh were already up. It was still the middle of the night.

"I just got notice that a window's opened. We need to move fast."

No time to shower or shave. They changed into identical black suits from one of Jared's cases and left their old clothes behind.

"I've noticed that high speeds make you nervous, Richard," said Jared. "I think you might be more comfortable in the back."

Richard didn't argue.

~~~

"Jesus fucking Christ!!"

The van swerved hard right. Richard held on for dear life.

Gilfoyle found the window function, the side panels became semi-transparent. They could see exactly how many drones were shooting at them.

Jared did another wide loop around, crushing a few under the wheels and another against the windshield.

Gilfoyle opened Jared's weapons case. He took a gun and loaded a full magazine. "In case they try to cut inside," he said in answer to Richard's stare but really, Richard had only been marvelling at his calm.

"Dinesh, take the wheel! Get us past that partition and keep going towards the tunnel."

Dinesh swore furiously in Urdo while Jared climbed into the back.

Jared pulled up a layer of foam. Under the smaller guns were much larger guns. He grabbed the biggest one.

_Technically a bazooka isn't a gun, it's a rocket launcher_. Some strange part of Richard's brain reminded him.

Jared opened a hatch in the ceiling, stood up, and took aim.

Richard had just enough time to register that the security car hot on their heels was the driverless kind before Jared obliterated the front half, leaving the passenger to stumble out of the wreckage.

"Gilfoyle, get the lock picks ready," Jared ordered.

"I thought you said this would be a good window," said Gilfoyle.

"This _is_ a good window. Relatively speaking."

Jared reloaded and blew up the partition ahead of them just a few seconds before Dinesh drove screaming through it.

Now they plunged headlong through darkness, a pitch black punctuated by tiny side lights on the walls at either side of them. Far too few and far between for Richard's comfort.

"Here, hold this," Gilfoyle told Richard as he handed him his gun.

Jared took the driver's seat again so that Dinesh could come back and help Gilfoyle prepare for what came next.

Once they came out into the underground warehouse, Richard had a part to play too. He already knew how to hack into a shipping manifest, that part was easy once Dinesh and Gilfoyle set up a rig for him to use.

He found them a half-empty container with just enough room to fit the van. Gilfoyle unlocked it with a fake key card. They drove in and settled down to wait.

~~~

Richard absentmindedly chewed on a fruit leather while he re-watched one of the research videos he'd requested for the trip:

Gavin Belson stepped up to the podium in front of a small crowd of Hooli employees.

"Wow, he looks rough," commented Dinesh. "Is this the one where he announces Peter Gregory's death?"

"No. This is just last week."

If Richard was being unkind he could almost believe that Gavin Belson continued to wear black just because he'd discovered it was slimming, but there was nothing flattering about the scruffy facial hair he'd let grow in.

"That is one hell of a sadness beard," said Dinesh, echoing Richard's thoughts on the subject.

Gavin gave a speech. He was still good at those. Maybe even moreso now. His eyes had always had a kind of prophet-like glint to them, but now it was tempered with something else - maybe pain - that gave him an extra measure of gravitas. He made no mention of Peter Gregory's project. He didn't talk about work of any kind, yet somehow Richard felt that he'd succeeded in making the assembled crowd believe in Hooli's cause. And why not? They'd been significant once. Whether they'd actually succeeded in making the world a better place was something that could be debated. It seemed clear to Richard that Gavin Belson believed that if they hadn't, they still might. 

"I always assumed that Peter Gregory was the brains of Hooli. But they seem to be doing fine without him. Doing okay, at least."

Richard noticed that Jared, leaning up beside him, was awake for the first time in nearly twenty hours.

"Do you think it's true, the rumours about those two? Hooli's founding partners?" Richard asked.

Jared made a non-committal noise. "Everybody's entitled to privacy. Even CEOs."

They sat together and watched more videos. Richard was oddly glad of the company. Gilfoyle, reclined in the front, had gone to sleep over an hour ago. Soon Dinesh went up to take the other reclined seat and catch up to him.

According to the schedule, it would be at least another thirty hours until they landed. Jared's cases had everything they'd need. Food, water, basic hygiene supplies, oxygen tanks if they started running low, even a rudimentary toilet with a privacy screen. They were boxed in on all sides by solid metal crates, but somehow Richard didn't feel trapped. He felt safe.

In the middle of one of the videos, Richard noticed that Jared wasn't watching anymore. Jared was looking at _him_. Even when Richard turned his head to look back at him, Jared made no move to politely avert his eyes. He just stared, with an expression on his face that Richard couldn't name. Like he was admiring a sunset or a favourite painting.

Richard looked away.

"So, Jared. We're here in this life-threatening situation together, but I don't think I know you at all. Did you... grow up around here?"

Jared shrugged. "I grew up here and there." He'd been muttering in Russian during his sleep, but his accent seemed perfectly West-coast-ish. "I've never been to any school you would know. But I feel like I've learned how to be useful."

Richard couldn't guess where Pied Piper had found him. Maybe he didn't want to know. He struggled to come up with more small talk, but came up empty. Jared's eyes, in the blue video light, seemed so strangely attractive.

"You're not usually my type," said Jared. _Oh god, was that a come-on?_ "But there's something about you that I find very compelling. And I admire your moral stance against violence. That takes courage."

"Ah. Thanks." Richard noticed that they were sitting so close that their thighs were touching, but he didn't move away.

Jared cocked his head. "I feel like I owe you an apology. This job is a lot more dangerous than you were told. There's a chance we might not make it out."

Richard let out a huff of laughter because he didn't think he could process that right now.

"Are you saying we're in danger and we might not live to see next week, so, you know, we might as well get busy? How often does that work?"

Jared shrugged again. "You'd be surprised. But that really wasn't what I was going to say."

"Oh." Richard couldn't think of how to respond, for a number of reasons, not the least being that he'd inadvertently revealed the thought that was on _his_ mind.

"I was going to say that I'm glad you're here. This is going to sound strange, but you seem so familiar to me. Like I know you from somewhere else. Like we've been friends for a long time. So even if we're headed for a death trap, it'll be good to have you with me. If I die, I'm happy to have met you first."

Once again, Richard found himself at a loss. What would anyone say to something like that?

"Thank you," he finally replied, and watched Jared's face brighten like a child given a sweetie.

They watched more videos. They ate a meal, such as it was, and listened to music. When Richard lay down he let Jared share his blanket, and fell asleep with Jared's arm around him and the realization that he felt the same way.


	5. The Job

A deep, resonant thud. Then, stillness that felt more strange than motion.

They were docked.

While they waited for their container to be unloaded, Gilfoyle and Dinesh fired up a rig so that Richard could hack into the wireless LAN. Richard held a glimmer of hope that he might find this mythical file without ever having to leave the van, but that hope was soon dashed. Nothing remotely sensitive was kept on the LAN.

Finding a map, the located the areas that would likely give them access to the offline servers. They plotted out a route, and the security points they would need to take out along the way. Richard put their container back on the shipping manifest, outbound for the coast late that night. In and out, with no one the wiser. That was the plan, anyways.

~~~

The first point of access was a wash. So was the second. The map they found must have been out of date. They kept having to go in deeper.

Hooli island was a labyrinth of empty offices intertwined with empty residences, often abutting open recreational areas. The man-made island had once had over a thousand inhabitants, where now only a few dozen remained.

"I think it's time we parted ways," said Gilfoyle, setting down the rig he was carrying so he could wipe his brow. Dinesh, panting, just caught up to them. They were both so loaded up with gear that running wasn't an option. If they went any further, Richard feared that getting it all back would be a problem.

"We'll hunker down here, where we can access security remotely. Jared and Richard, you two go ahead," Gilfoyle advised, handing them both earsets so they could stay in touch.

Dinesh gave Richard a tracker to attach to his jacket buttonhole, then passed over the portable rig that was designed to connect to the server.

Richard patted his pocket, where he'd kept the gun that Gilfoyle had passed to him in the van. He didn't want to use it, but this island ramped up his anxiety, and he knew he would need to be calm. Despite his resolve not to shoot anyone, just having it available made him feel better.

~~~

The third port was the charm. Richard plugged in and booted up.

"All clear, Richard," Gilfoyle told him through the earset. "You should be safe there for two hours.

"Try to make it quick? This place creeps me out," Dinesh added.

His turn.

"I'll go as fast as I can." The longer he took to search, the more chance he had of finding valuable intel. But if he took too long, they'd run the risk of getting caught.

"It would help if I had an idea of what I was looking for? Are you sure you don't know anything about it?" Richard asked Jared.

"I've heard you'll know it when you see it," Jared said. "Sorry, I wish I could be more helpful."

~~~

An hour and a half later, Richard started to sweat. He was close, he could feel it. After wading through teratons of digital hay, he'd managed to find a few needles - a stash of project files that username PeteGee had accessed heavily almost two years ago, sitting in a folder locked by username GavBee. Richard broke the lock and started skimming.

He thought this job would be like breaking into a bank vault or rifling through office desks. Instead it felt more like he was poking around in someone's bedside drawer.

Peter Gregory's work was nothing short of poetic. Tricky yet simple. Elegant but brutally efficient. So much code, so much genius spent on projects that would never be launched, software that would never be applied to anything.  

#Something's missing here, Gav. I can't put my finger on it. -PeteGee

#Pete, this is brilliant. Amazing. People will draw inspiration from this for decades. -GavBee

#I highly doubt that. But I appreciate the sentiment. Thank you Gav. -PeteGee

#You're just doubting yourself again. We talked about this. -GavBee

Richard read on. His breath almost stopped. He realized they were both right.

There were parts missing, as Peter suspected, but those could be fixed. Richard already had an inkling of how it could be done. Otherwise...

This was _seminal_.

This would change everything.

"This is it," Richard stuttered.

And this, he realized, would absolutely destroy Pied Piper. It would destabilize the digital economy upon which the major ruling tech companies were founded.

Peter Gregory had discovered something so amazing that Pied Piper would never let it see the light of day.

"What is it?" Jared asked.

Richard leaned over and pulled the rig's plug, turning his screen black.

"It's an idea so good that Pied Piper shouldn't have it. I won't let them. I just can't." He shrugged, and found that he couldn't look Jared in the eye. He wondered how he was going to explain it to Gilfoyle and Dinesh.

Then he realized that their idle chatter had stopped some time ago - neither of them had said anything at least an hour. The silence suddenly disturbed him, and he knew that something was wrong. Maybe everything was wrong.

"I know you brought a gun, Richard. Could you give it to me please?"

"Uh. Yeah, okay." Although his instincts screamed that it would be a mistake, he took his beretta from his waistband and passed it over to Jared. What else could he do? Try to shoot Jared? Even the thought made him feel sick.

"Heh, you're not going to kill me, are you?"

Jared didn't reply, and Richard's panic dialled up to level 10.

While tucking Richard's gun away, Jared took out a phone Richard didn't know he had.

"Are the other two frozen? Good. Yes I've got my end. I'll be over soon."

Jared hung up, put his hands in his pockets, and looked over the Richard the same way  he always did, eyes wide blue and a gentle smile.

"What exactly is going on here?" Richard asked.

"I work for Gavin Belson. You got farther than we thought you would. The security team will have a lot of work ahead of them." Jared rocked back on his heels in a movement Richard wanted to read as contrition. "Sorry for tricking you," he added.

Richard shook his head. "You tricked Laurie Bream and the whole Pied Piper board. So I guess I shouldn't feel so bad." He swallowed thickly. "Are Gilfoyle and Dinesh okay?"

"They've been in the security hold for awhile now. They'll be okay. If they reject Gavin's offer to join us, we'll arrange some kind of transfer. They didn't learn anything sensitive."

_Not like I did._ Richard thought with a shiver. What would Gavin Belson do to him for discovering Hooli's most closely guarded secret?

"Will I be okay? Are you just going to shoot me now?"

"Well. That was the plan. But honestly Richard, I couldn't kill you even if Peter Gregory came back to life and ordered it."

"Oh. Okay. Good?"

Jared knelt down on his knees in front of Richard so their faces were almost the same height.

"Richard, when I went undercover at Pied Piper, I did it to help Gavin find out how they were going to try and steal Peter's ideas. But I ended up finding something much more important. I found you." Jared sat back on his heels. As always it seemed, Richard could think of no reply.

"You were right about Peter Gregory. He was the brains of Hooli. The engine of the ship. Gavin's been focused on steering for so long that he's fallen behind in his knowledge and his understanding of the theories that Peter was developing right up until the end. He's working so hard, but he can't finish Peter's initiatives. Something's missing. And I think maybe it's you."

He took one of Richard's hands in his own.

"Will you join me here at Hooli? I think we need you. I think _I_ need you. And I think, in a way, you need us. I think you could make a difference here."

This time it didn't take Richard very long to know the right answer. They'd figure out all the details later, but first:

" _Yes._ "

~~~

The end.


End file.
